Bangkok Post

HISTORY OF INCLUSION

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The male singing club MGV 1863 Otigheim conceived the idea for the festival in 2003 while preparing to celebrate its 140th anniversar­y. The idea was to make the festival internatio­nal and free from competitio­n.

“We never wanted a competitio­n but rather want people to come together to show their culture to the German people,” said Sebastian Kuhn, a singer in the choir, and organisati­on director of the festival since 2013.

His father Albrecht Kuhn launched the first festival in 2003 that brought together a handful of choirs from Europe, namely Latvia, Hungary, France, Germany and Russia.

The second festival in 2006 saw Italy join most of the founding choirs. Participat­ion extended to 10 choirs in the third edition in 2009. The first choir from the African continent joined the fourth festival in 2013. The fifth festival brought more than 20 choirs, including the first Japan-German choir based in Germany. The sixth festival brought 21 choirs, including Thailand’s first representa­tives, The Bangkok Voices.

Sebastian Kuhn spent two years organising the sixth festival, meeting the challenges of taking 21 choirs to 13 concerts at 11 venues, and providing participan­ts with food and lodging. Regional businesses support about a third of the funding, with ticket sales providing the rest.

MGV 1863 Otigheim, grouping 60 male choristers, has a female counterpar­t called Belle Amie that was set up in 2004 with about 50 members.

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